- Attention Capital, a venture firm that buys and scales media brands, announced it is buying women’s empowerment brand Girlboss.
Attention Capital — a venture firm that buys and scales media brands — announced it is buying Girlboss. Girlboss is a female-focused business launched by Sophia Amoruso. Amoruso is going to be joining Attention Capital as a founder partner.
Attention Capital acquired 100% of Girlboss, but did not disclose the terms of the deal. Prior to the acquisition, Girlboss raised over $6 million in venture capital funding from a number of investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Slow Ventures, Jaws Ventures, Gary Vaynerchuk, BAM Ventures, and Atom Factory.
Before launching Girlboss, Amoruso founded a fashion retail operation called Nasty Gal. Nasty Gal went from a small eBay channel to a larger operation with over $300 million in sales. But that company ended up filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2016 after raising over $60 million in funding. A couple of years ago, Nasty Girl was acquired for $20 million. The story of running Nasty Gal were written about by Amoruso in a book called #GIRLBOSS and it also inspired a show on Netflix.
Girlboss had initially started out as a business publication focused on women-led businesses. And then the company pivoted to a women-focused social network. But some of Girlboss’ most powerful assets includes its women’s empowerment conference called the Girlboss Rally and the Girlboss podcast.
Amoruso will be retaining her position as the head of Girlboss with Neha Gandhi as the chief operating officer. No job cuts are expected following the acquisition. And Girlboss is expecting to hire more talent in product and technology along with sales and partnerships. The company headquarters will also continue to be based out of Silver Lake, California.
“Girlboss is built on the idea of powering growth through community,” said Amoruso. “The Girlboss movement’s viral success makes evident that women are more successful if they have access to each other and can share their experiences.”
Attention Capital was launched by former Fox Networks Group president Joe Marchese, Snap’s former head of content Nick Bell, and former Palantir Technologies SVP Ashlyn Gentry, Ph.D. And the leadership team behind Attention Capital have experience in helping grow media brands like National Geographic, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Barstool Sports, and Vice. Last month, Attention Capital hired Brendan Ripp, the former EVP of corporate partnerships at Disney Advertising Sales.
Attention Capital is looking to raise $400 million to $500 million as part of a debut fund. And recently, the firm partnered with Lupa Systems (investment firm led by James Murdoch) to buy a controlling stake in Tribeca Enterprises (Tribeca Film Festival) from The Madison Square Garden Company.
“Girlboss is an internationally known brand that is redefining what it means to be entrepreneurial—it’s not just starting your own business, it’s taking a risk, looking for that next role, making a career switch and taking a step into the unknown,” added Gentry. “Millions of women feel more comfortable going on this journey because they know they have Sophia and the global Girlboss community right there with them. The loyalty and passion that this brand captures makes it a massive market opportunity and at Attention Capital we’re looking forward to working with the team on Girlboss’s expansion.”
